Be Nice! A number of years ago, a group of researchers studied 16,000 corporate executives. They found that the “high achievers” in the group tended to be every bit as concerned with people as they were with profits. The “medium achievers” were concerned only with performance numbers, while the “low achievers” were obsessed with…
I came across an interesting quote made by a psychologist named Theodore Reik nearly 50 years ago. It went, “In order to be happy oneself, it is necessary to make at least one other person happy.” He went on to say, “The secret to human happiness is not in self-seeking, but in self-forgetting.” What this…
When you share with those around you that you’re getting ready to follow your dream–change careers, start your own business, go back to school–don’t expect them to tell you to go for it. Instead, expect them to say negative things like, “Are you sure you know what you”re doing?” Or, “You’re taking an awfully big risk.” The reason…
Maya Angelou appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show recently and said, “I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he or she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage and tangled Christmas tree lights.” Maya is right on the money. If you can negotiate events like this…
Embrace Failure Few people will argue with the old adage that, “Experience is the best teacher.” Experience is all about trying something new, failing, learning from that failure and then trying again until you get it right. When you think about it, that’s how you learned how to ride a bicycle. The only problem…
I’ve Got Some Advice For You Every now and then, you’ll come across someone who is struggling while trying to solve a problem that you already know how to solve. The temptation is to offer this person advice and thus put an end to his or her struggle–after all, offering a helping hand seems like…
The process of solving a problem goes more quickly and is far more effective if you are able to keep people and problems separate. As simple as this may sound, it’s difficult for many of us to do because often times we think that the people are the problem, so we attack the package deal. …
Part of our interpersonal success is tied to saying the right thing at the right time. But an even larger part of that success is tied to our being able to avoid saying the wrong thing at the tempting moment. There are times when we so want to tell somebody off or give them a…
Earning Respect Many people go through life thinking they’re entitled to be respected by those around them and then they whine when they don’t receive it. What these people fail to understand is that respect is not something you’re entitled to, it’s something that must be earned through action. And the quickest way to earn it…
You Cared If someone appears to be down, take the time to build them back up. Go to them and say something like, “You seem kind of down today, is everything all right?” Then be prepared to listen to what they have to say and look for ways in which you can help lighten their…